Educational resources for:

Leadership

Overview

From 1960 to 2000, Detroit's black community grew from 29% to 82% of the city's total population, becoming a political powerhouse that city, state, and national leaders had to court. ABJ shows highlight political leaders (especially Mayor Coleman Young, the colossus of Detroit politics during all but a few years of the existing ABJ archive), and their followers among the varied interests and neighborhoods that enlivened and complicated the city's politics.

Websites

Avoice: African-American Voices in Congresshttp://www.avoiceonline.orgThis site was developed by the Congressional Black Congress Foundation to document the work of African-American legislators in Congress. It contains video and audio clips of black legislators and activists, as well as exhibits focusing on subjects such as the Voting Rights Act and the Anti-Apartheid movement.

Civilrights.orghttp://www.civilrights.org/The site of the Civil Rights Coalition for the 21st Century. This organization is a collaboration between the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund. It is a clearinghouse for civil rights news and information.

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studieshttp://www.jointcenter.org/A public policy institution devoted to issues of concern to the communities of African-Americans and other persons of color.

Nation of Islamhttp://www.noi.org/Official site for the Nation of Islam. Provides institutional histories, program and policy information, as well as biographies of leaders including Louis Farrakhan.

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institutehttp://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/Site of Stanford Project devoted to compiling and publishing a fourteen-volume collection of King's personal and professional papers. The project also develops and promotes a variety of related educational activities. Among these activities is the Liberation Curriculum, including lesson plans and other educational resources.

Related Films

Finally Got The News.
VHS. 55 minutes. New York: First Run/Icarus Films, 1970.
A documentary on the League of Revolutionary Black Workers from Detroit auto factories. It chronicles their efforts to build a black labor organization dedicated to solving problems facing both black and white worker such as speed-ups and low wages.

Getting Out.
VHS. 10 minutes. New York: First Run/Icarus Films, 1993.
A film short focusing on three teenage gang members in rival Detroit gangs. Underscores the reality of urban life shaping Detroit's youth.

Chisolm '72: Unbought and Unbossed.
DVD. 72 minutes. Directed by Shola Lynch. Los Angeles: Twentieth Century Fox, 2004.
A documentary on Congresswoman Shirley Chisolm's campaign to become the Democratic Party's 1972 presidential nominee. A champion of marginalized Americans she sought to draw more people to participate in the political process.

Books

Collier-Thomas, Bettye and V.P. Franklin, eds. Sisters in the Struggle: African-American Women in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. New York: New York University Press, 2001.
A collection of essays documenting the work of African American women in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. The collection explores the complicated roles women played in these movements as well as those in local, state, and national politics. Topics include: "Citizen Schools" in the South, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, the Black Panther party and the Free Joan Little Movement.

Johnson, Ollie A., III and Karin L. Stanford, eds. Black Political Organizations in the Post-Civil Rights Era. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2002.
A collection of eleven essays examining current black political movements and organizations. Some topics include: the National Urban League, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, black conservatism, black women's community work, and the role of the black church in politics.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1986.
A collection of King's work including interviews, personal reflections, speeches, writings and book excerpts. Contains bibliographical references for further reading and research.

Rich, Wilbur. Coleman Young and Detroit Politics: From Social Activist to Power Broker. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2003.
Part biography, part political analysis, the author follows Young's movement from marginalized 1950s activist to major political figure in Michigan and National Democratic Party politics. This work focuses on three areas of Young's political policies: affirmative action, economic redevelopment, and the city’s fiscal crisis.